Nettle & Bone

by T. Kingfisher

The trees were full of crows and the woods were full of madmen. The pit was full of bones and her hands were full of wires.

Then again, few humans were truly worth the love of a living dog. Some gifts you could never deserve.

She had not realized that a nun had more power than a princess, that she could close a door.

She pieced bits together on scraps and sometimes things worked and sometimes they didn’t, but the burn of curiosity to see if the next thing would work, and the next thing, and the next, kept her forging ahead.

the history of the world was written in women’s wombs and women’s blood and she would never be allowed to change it.

She was used to being stubborn, but having people agree with her was off-putting and didn’t give her much to work with.

It was hard to be frightened of the unknown when the unknown kept chickens.